Grand Opening - New DS Smith Plant in Erlensee Inaugurated. Investment creates great value for customers of the company.

Together with roughly 370 invited guests, the company celebrated the opening of its new top-class Display & Consumer Packaging site in Erlensee. After the first sod was cut on 26 August 2015, pilot production was started as early as in July 2016. During the past few months, the machines were transferred from the current DS Smith site in Hanau to the new site in Erlensee – while production was running at both plants. Here the company sets new standards for its customers in the packaging industry in the field of display and consumer packaging.

With a construction period of under a year and across an area of 88,000 sqm, a plant has been built which is unparalleled in Europe. The area for production and logistics as well as offices, conference rooms and social spaces comprises about 45,000 sqm. Overall DS Smith invested approx. 50 million euros in the project to promote growth in the region. The result is a site with state-of-the-art machine technology and optimum production, warehousing and logistics processes. The activities in the display field are reoriented to meet even highest customer demands and bring performance to the next level.

Besides providing a top-class plant, there are two more highlights for customers: an Impact Centre and a PackRight Centre - now the third one in the region of Germany & Switzerland. These centres are absolutely unique in the industry.

In the Impact Centre, customers can analyse their complete supply cycle together with DS Smith. The Display and Packaging Strategists of DS Smith take advantage of profound consumer insights and know the latest trends. Before every visit, there is a detailed analyses and definition of objectives to be achieved. In the Impact Centre, customers can get a live experience of the effects of their displays and packaging in a real-life trading environment and a back-of-store area. Also the e-commerce area is integrated here. The results of a visit in the Impact Centre are new starting points for concrete optimisations along the entire value added cycle. 

A highlight at the new plant: In the Impact Centre, the display and packaging strategists of DS Smith analyse, together with the brand manufacturer, all stages of the supply cycle in a realistically modelled trading and back-of-store environment. This helps to find new possibilities for optimisation.

In the PackRight Centre, DS Smith then develops concrete viable solutions from the identified ideas together with the customers. Here, the designers of DS Smith work together with the customers to create new display and packaging concepts – and that always with regards to the specific supply cycle and the strategic targets of the customers. The way to the perfect solution leads through a four-step process. After identifying the insights, development, review, validation and implementation of the found solution follow. In doing so, different creativity techniques and state to the art technologies are being used. The results are made to measure solutions which increase the customers turnover and reduce costs within the value chain.In Erlensee, the third DS Smith PackRight Centre in the region of Germany & Switzerland has been built. In workshops with representatives of the customers from different fields, display and packaging solutions are created here which create real added value.

Per V Frederiksen, Managing Director, DS Smith region of Germany & Switzerland, welcomed the roughly 370 present guests the majority of which were customers of the company, as well as the mayors of the cities of Erlensee and Bruchköbel, investors, analysts, members of the Board of Directors, the Group Chief Executive of the group and the CEO of the Packaging division, representatives of the associations, the press, suppliers and some employees. After an expression of thanks to all those involved in this project, he pointed out: “I would particularly like to thank our customers. We have built this plant for you. Thank you very much for your continuous support and your understanding in this challenging period of transfer.” He concluded: “We are at the beginning of a journey. We would like to exceed the expectations of our customers with what we can achieve at this new site.” Per V Frederiksen, Managing Director, DS Smith region of Germany & Switzerland, emphasised in his welcoming speech that the new DS Smith site in Erlensee would bring the performance of the company in the field of display and consumer packaging to the next performance level.  

Miles Roberts, Group Chief Executive of the DS Smith group said: “Our objective is to become the leading provider of sustainable display and packaging solutions and help our customers to increase their turnover, reduce costs and minimise risks. We have invested a lot in the region of Germany & Switzerland, we have the right employees and a very special way of collaborating with our customers. Now we have built this great plant. Display is a core area of our growth strategy. With this site, we can significantly increase value for our customers in Europe.”"Our objective is to become the leading provider of sustainable display and packaging solutions and help our customers to increase their turnover, reduce costs and minimise risks. With this site, we can significantly increase value for our customers in Europe”, Miles Roberts, Group Chief Executive of the DS Smith group, pointed out.

In his speech, Stefano Rossi, CEO of the Packaging division, DS Smith Plc, emphasised: “Our customers in all of Europe said that they wanted to grow with us. This site is our response to that. This plant is the largest and most efficient of its kind in all of Europe, and our customers benefit from it, from our expertise and our supply cycle thinking. I would like to thank all employees, and in particular also our customers”.Stefano Rossi, CEO of the Packaging division, DS Smith Plc, emphasised: “Our customers in all of Europe said that they wanted to grow with us. This site is our response to that. This plant is the largest and most efficient of its kind in all of Europe, and our customers benefit from it.” 

“What do we do differently? Why do we always ask why?” asked Michael Lamprecht, Sales Director, DS Smith region of Germany & Switzerland, in his speech. “We are about knowing and understanding the issues and challenges of our customers. What is on their minds? How does their supply cycle work, i.e. the journey of their product from the first idea to production, assembly, warehousing, dispatch, central warehouse, sale, consumption and finally disposal. This is exactly where we start in our new Impact Centre and in our PackRight Centres. Together we put your supply cycle to the test to develop customised solutions. Our objective is to increase our customers’ value, to make them successful. We want to thrill our customers, then we will also be successful.”

The mayors of the cities of Bruchköbel and Erlensee, Günter Maibach and Stefan Erb, agreed: “Today is a good day for the association to develop the former Langendiebach base. It is not every day that we can set up a new company. And DS Smith is up to now the company with the largest area in the industrial area Langendiebach base. A decisive factor for the site selection was certainly also the good geographical location; the close proximity to important motorways and the Frankfurt Airport are an invaluable advantage.” The mayors wished DS Smith all the best for the future.

“We have created a solid foundation for the further development of DS Smith”, emphasised Torsten Könning, Senior Business Development Manager, Goodmann Germany GmbH. “A total of 3,000 tons of steel – we could speak of 500 elephants to make this clearer – and about 20,000 cubic metres of concrete – this is 8 Olympic swimming pools – have been used. We have not moved heaven but earth – exactly 75,000 cubic metres of it. The result is a state-of-the-art building meeting all sustainability criteria with above-average ratings.”

During the subsequent tours of the premises, all visitors could get an idea of the capacity of the new site. The display and packaging strategists of the individual departments proudly presented their respective divisions and shared interesting information. In early 2017, for example, a third offset printing machine and another die cutter with a depanelling machine will complement the comprehensive machine park. With this new site the company is ready for further growth.During a tour of the premises, the visitors at the grand opening were able to get an idea of the comprehensive expertise and the promising possibilities of DS Smith in the field of digital printing.

“We use state-of-the-art technologies for our machines and in logistics. We meet the highest environmental standards and are ideally positioned for small and large batches in production, we have created space for further growth and have a highly motivated team of employees with comprehensive expertise”, said Markus-Oliver Kramm,General Manager of the Erlensee plant. “This plant is at the heart of our entire Display and Consumer Packaging division with an orientation way beyond Germany.”